Daily Devotions
Isaiah
"My life span is gone"
Text: Isaiah 38:12
FEELINGS OF DESPAIR
Isaiah came to Hezekiah with a message from the LORD. Hezekiah must set his house in order, because of imminent death. The king felt a tremendous sense of despair.
“My life span is gone,
Taken from me like a shepherd’s tent;
I have cut off my life like a weaver.
He cuts me off from the loom;
From day until night You make an end of me.
I have considered until morning—
Like a lion,
So He breaks all my bones;
From day until night You make an end of me.
Like a crane or a swallow, so I chattered;
I mourned like a dove;
My eyes fail from looking upward.
O LORD, I am oppressed;
Undertake for me!”
Isaiah 38:12-14
1. How Hezekiah felt.
a) That his life span was gone.
b) That his life had been folded away as a shepherd’s tent.
c) That his life was cut by the weaver.
d) That he had come to the end of his life.
2. Hezekiah must have had a sleepless night.
a) He “considered until morning”.
b) He thought of God as a lion.
i) God had torn him apart.
ii) He felt helpless and hopeless.
iii) He felt that God had made his life to come to an abrupt end.
3. Hezekiah cried out to the LORD.
a) He compared himself to a bird crying out to God:
i) A majestic crane.
ii) A humble swallow.
iii) A mourning dove.
b) He looked up to the LORD till his eyes failed him.
c) He cried out to God candidly and pitifully.
i) He felt “oppressed”.
ii) He pleaded with God to undertake for him.